Guadalcanal campaign

The campaign began on 7 August 1942, when Allied forces landed on Guadalcanal and the nearby islands of Tulagi, Gavutu, and Tanambogo. On Guadalcanal, Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift’s 1st Marine Division landed between Koli Point and Lunga Point. Japanese construction personnel offered little resistance, and Marines secured the unfinished airfield at Lunga Point by the afternoon of 8 August. The Marines established a perimeter around the airfield, later named Henderson Field. On Tulagi and the smaller islands, Japanese naval troops resisted more fiercely; the fighting there continued through 9 August.

The landing did not end the contest for the airfield. Japanese forces sent reinforcements to the island and attacked the Marine perimeter. From 12 to 14 September, Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi’s 35th Infantry Brigade attacked Edson’s Ridge, south of Henderson Field. The 1st Marine Raider Battalion and Marine parachute troops held the ridge through repeated night assaults. The defense kept the airfield in Allied hands, while the campaign remained constrained by difficult terrain, supply problems, and continuing air and naval attacks.

In October, Japanese forces mounted another counteroffensive aimed at retaking Henderson Field. The U.S. Army’s 164th Infantry Regiment had arrived on 13 October to reinforce the defenders. The fighting continued around the airfield and the Matanikau River, where Marines had already been pressing Japanese positions westward. The battle was not confined to land: naval forces fought costly night actions in the waters around Guadalcanal, while aircraft based at Henderson Field and elsewhere contested control of the approaches and the airfield.

Command changed during the campaign. Vice Admiral William F. Halsey replaced Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley on 18 October 1942. Major General Alexander M. Patch replaced Vandegrift on 9 December, and Patch was named commander of XIV Army Corps on 2 January 1943. Japanese forces had committed major formations piecemeal and suffered severe attrition. Allied forces continued to hold the airfield and expanded their control of the island as the campaign entered its final phase.

The Japanese evacuated their remaining forces by 9 February 1943, and Patch declared the island secure that day. The campaign had lasted from the initial landings on 7 August 1942. Reported Allied losses included 7,100 killed and more than 7,789 wounded; Japanese Army losses were reported as 19,200 dead, including 8,500 killed in combat. Both sides also lost ships and aircraft. The campaign’s outcome was an Allied victory, but it had required sustained fighting on land and at sea to retain the Guadalcanal foothold.